April 27 // Move Fast and Break (the Right) Things: Hastening the Clean Energy Transition without Compromising Reliability, Affordability, and the Environment

Move Fast and Break (the Right) Things: Hastening the Clean Energy Transition without Compromising Reliability, Affordability, and the Environment

Webcast Link: tiny.utk.edu/MikeBoots

“Move fast and break things” is a common saying in science and engineering that means making mistakes is necessary for innovation in highly competitive and complex settings.

In the context of climate change, embracing and learning from mistakes will hasten the clean energy innovation and deployment needed to reduce the carbon footprint of the world economy and to adapt to the impacts of climate change we are already facing. However, moving fast on climate change also raises the risk of unnecessary economic causalities, exacerbating inequities, and generating new environmental harm.

Mike Boots, Executive Vice President of Breakthrough Energy, will chat will the Baker Center’s Charles Sims about how to move fast on a clean energy transition without breaking the wrong things. Founded by Bill Gates in 2015, Breakthrough Energy seeks to accelerate the transformation to net-zero emissions by “supporting cutting-edge research and development, investing in companies that turn great ideas into clean products, and advocating for policies that speed innovation from lab to market.